ETHICS CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
Main Body
Character of a legal practitioner
Practitioner/Client & Practitioner/Practitioner Relationship
Practitioner/Court Relationship
Attraction of Business
Remuneration and Fees
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment (3)
7.0 References/Further Readings
INTRODUCTION
The importance of this unit cannot be over-emphasised since it deals with the ethics expected of a legal practitioner, a body of which you will soon become a member. The unit will examine the ideal personalities of a legal practitioner as well as what is expected of him vis-a-vis his clients and the court. You shall be properly guided here by the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007. This is therefore a must-get for you.
OBJECTIVES
This unit is meant to assist you in having an overall knowledge of what training in learning and character connotes as a law student and legal practitioner in the making. You will learn about the duty of confidentiality in your intercourse with your clients, your relation to other practitioners, improper client poaching and attraction of business as well as the authorized mode and scale of charging fees.
MAIN BODY
- Character of a legal practitioner
What attributes must a legal practitioner possess? That is the question you are called upon to answer under this sub-topic. There are several of such attributes. By virtue of his being a legal practitioner, it is incumbent upon him to be ‘fit and proper’ and to live above board.
Since he is a minister in the temple of justice, he is expected to be an embodiment of justice, not only by his words but also by his deeds.
A legal practitioner is also expected to know the law, that being his workshop, and he must be ready to discharge his duties steadfastly whenever he is representing a client in court.
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 1
What qualities must a legal practitioner possess?
- Legal practitioner/Client & Practitioner/Practitioner Relationship
A legal practitioner owes some duties towards his clients just as the clients owe him some duties. In the same vein, a lawyer is expected to carry out some duties towards his colleagues and vice versa. You are expected to know what these duties are. What will be mentioned here are inexhaustive. As such, you are expected to embark on further reading for the other duties of a lawyer to his clients, clients to lawyer, and lawyer to lawyer.
Starting with the duties of a lawyer to his clients, the following are some of such duties:
A lawyer must listen to the instructions of his client attentively and must carry out the said instructions to the letter, provided the instructions do not involve the commission of crime.
He also must prosecute the case of the client diligently. Some lawyers have been dealt with by the LPDC for lack of diligent prosecution of their clients’ cases or for avoidable negligence.
Most importantly, a legal practitioner owes his client the duty of confidentiality. In other words, the client is entitled to have all discussions between him and his lawyer kept confidential. The communication is privileged and must not be divulged to a third party without the consent of the client. However, where such instructions involve the commission of a crime, the lawyer in question will be bound to disclose with or without the consent of the client.
He must operate a separate bank account for his client money. He must not mix this up with his own money.
As for the client, he owes his lawyer the duty of full disclosure and he must pay his lawyer for the service rendered.
The relationship between legal practitioners is expected to be cordial and respectful. Senior lawyers must not look down on their juniors and must be ready to put them through whenever they seem to be in trouble in the court room. This is more so where a senior lawyer is appearing in a case where the lawyer on the other side is a new wig. He must not take advantage of this; rather, he must be ready to put him through on how to move motions or how to do whatever it is he is having problem doing.
Practitioners must also be ready to share useful information with one another. Where there is a new precedent on a particular legal principle, he must be ready to share same with his colleagues through the internet or through journal articles. New development in the field of law/legal practice must also be shared with other lawyers. This is where the NBA is most useful: to organise seminars, retreats, etc to ensure cordial relationship and friendly existence among legal practitioners.
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 2
Itemise and explain the practitioner/client relationship.
- Practitioner/Court Relationship
The lawyer’s duties to the court include the following:
Punctuality: A legal practitioner must be punctual in getting to court. The court sits at 9 a.m. It is therefore incumbent upon the legal practitioner to be in court before that time and before His Lordship sits.
A legal practitioner must be properly robed before the court. A male lawyer must be adorned in dark suit with his wig and gown. The same colour is allowed for female lawyers. Odd colours are not permitted and lawyers owe the court the duty of being properly robed. Wearing of red or pink or yellow suits will therefore not be overlooked without admonition or being outright sent out by the court; so also is over-embellishment by female lawyers.
He must not mislead the court by mischievously citing wrong authorities.
He must make available to the court authorities relied upon in his argument before the court.
He must be respectful to their lordships.
He must address the court in proper nomenclature e.g. for the High Court Judges upward to the Supreme Court, the right nomenclature is My Lords or Your Lordship/Ladyship (Note that Your Lordship is generally acceptable even for a female Judge). It is Your Worship in the Magistrate Court.
He must be able to control his temper even where he seems to have been wronged by their lordships.
He must be courteous to the court. Even where he does not share their lordships’ views, it will be wrong for him and will be in breach of his duty to remain courteous to the court for him to fume immediately a decision is handed down by saying that ‘your lordships are biased and we are going to appeal against this biased decision’.
The court also owes some duties to lawyers. These include:
Punctuality: the court must sit latest by 9 a.m. The practice by some Judges who sit far after 9 a.m. without any convincing reason is therefore in breach of this duty.
Since respect is reciprocal, the court must also address counsel in a respectful manner.
The court must be seen as father of all. It must not show preference for any counsel.
This encapsulates the duty to direct counsel, especially the new wig. Instead of making them feel inferior, the court must help them through in the doing of whatever it is they want to do before the court.
The court must avoid abusive words.
You are to read the suggested textbooks/materials to get more of these duties
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 3
Explain the reciprocal duties of the court to legal practitioners.
Attraction of Business
As a legal practitioner, it is imperative for you to know that you are distinct from other professionals and therefore, there are rules of professional conduct that guide you and the profession.
Following from the above, there is a limit to the extent you can go in attracting your clients. There are some practices that are not acceptable in legal practice. One of such is the rule against advertising. A legal practitioner is precluded from embarking on any kind of outrageous advertising style. He is not allowed to solicit for clients either through radio jingles or any other forms of adverts. What is allowed is moderate advertisement. A lawyer is thus permitted to put up a modest signpost indicating the name of his chambers and his general practice areas. The signpost must not be too big and the wordings contained therein must not be too specific. A signpost with the wordings ‘Adeolu& Co, the Best Criminal Lawyer in Town’ will not be acceptable because it is indicting the credibility and ability of other practising lawyers in that area. An acceptable advert via signpost may include ‘OlutunjiAdegbenga& Co. Adelabi Chambers: Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria’ etc.
It is also unacceptable for a legal practitioner to source out potential cases from clients. By this it is meant a situation where a legal practitioner will go out to look for actionable situations and then instigate the parties to go to court so that he can be their counsel.
A legal practitioner must also not engage himself in any form of advertisement that will run down his colleagues. This is known as ‘touting’.
In soliciting for clients therefore legal practitioners must abide by the relevant sections of the Rules of Professional Conducts which govern attraction of business by counsel.
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 4
Should advertising by legal practitioners be legal? Examine the pros and cons.
- Remuneration and Fees
The remuneration and fees of legal practitioners are also governed by the relevant laws which must be abided by in charging clients for various services. With respect to landagreement, a legal practitioner is expected to charge 10% of the purchase sum of the land in question. For company incorporation and related activities under the Company and Allied Matters Act 2004, relevant rules applied. In the field of legal drafting generally, there is a law that regulates how a lawyer should charge for legal drafting.
A legal practitioner must charge his fees and remuneration in line with the various provisions of the law and must not charge clients arbitrarily.
Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) 5
Discuss the rules guiding the remuneration and fees of legal practitioners.
CONCLUSION
So far in this unit, we have concerned ourselves with those rules of professional ethics that are laid down to maintain and further underscore the respect attached to the legal( profession. The breach of any of these rules will not be overlooked by the appropriate authorities. It may lead to suspension of the affected practitioner. It may lead to warning, and where the breach is so grave, it may lead to the striking out of the name of the affected legal practitioner from the Roll of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Where the culprit is merely suspended, he can continue with his legal practice after serving the suspension term.
Where his name has been struck out of the Supreme Court Roll, he can be reinstated after showing convincing evidence of penitence.
SUMMARY
In this unit, you have learnt about ethics of legal practice. Specifically, the following areas have been covered:
- Character of a legal practitioner
- Practitioner/Client & Practitioner/Practitioner Relationship
- Practitioner/Court Relationship
- Attraction of Business
- Remuneration and Fees
TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT (3)
The legal profession is not a profession without ethics. While lawyers are expected to respect the court in prosecuting their clients’ cases, the court is equally expected to be decorous toward counsel. In line with this, critically examine the roles of a counsel to the court and vice versa.
REFERENCES
Legal Practitioner’s Act, 1962 (as amended)
Olakanmi& Co., Legal Ethics Series, 2 nd ed., Lawlords Publication, 2008 Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007